Blears: Stop extremism by talking to radicals

MINISTERS today promised to "engage" with radical Muslim leaders in a new bid to wean their followers away from extremist ideas.

The change of strategy - a significant shift from the previous policy of shunning hardliners - was unveiled today in a speech by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears at the London School of Economics.

She said it could involve ministers sharing a public platform with those whose views were "unpalatable" because ostracising them might backfire by fuelling extremism.

The latest revision to the Government's counter-terrorism comes as ministers prepare to unveil full details of a new "Contest II" blueprint for combating radicalisation. It will aim to separate those who advocate violence from others who hold extreme, but non-violent, views in the hope of minimising the potential breeding ground for terrorists and converting hardliners to more moderate opinions.

The new approach, which will form a centrepiece of an updated counter- terrorism policy, is likely to raise concerns among some who advocate a robust attitude towards extremists.

Ms Blears insisted, however, that while ministers would continue to avoid contact with those who supported terrorism, engaging with other radicals could achieve positive results.

She said that efforts to combat extremism in Britain would not succeed if the Government talked only to a "select few" and claimed instead that a better approach would be to confront directly those with unsavoury views with the aim of defeating their arguments.

Ms Blears said: "If we are to change minds and win this debate, it will not be through restricting our engagement to a select few, but through bringing in new voices and in doing so challenging views and behaviour that we find unpalatable.

"Ultimately, the Government's aim is to encourage and reinforce a change of opinion or behaviour - to move individuals and groups from one end to the other. We won't achieve that by only speaking to people who agree with us nor if our approach is static."

Ms Blears insisted that the new strategy did not amount to ministers "letting our guard down" by appearing to condone radical views and said that "engagement" with hardliners was not the same as endorsing their ideas.

The revised approach raises the prospect of ministers sharing public platforms with Muslim radicals whose views on the treatment of women or homosexuals, for example, would be unacceptable to the vast majority of Britons.